A diagnosis based on an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has an advantage that an operator such a medical doctor or the like can easily and non-invasively obtain a tomographic image of a diagnostic site on a real-time basis by scanning the diagnostic site with an ultrasonic probe. On the other hand, the ultrasonic tomographic image is more difficult to be observed as shape information from the whole body of an examinee as compared with tomographic images obtained by a magnetic resonance imaging device (hereinafter referred to as MRI device) or an X-ray computer tomographic device (hereinafter referred to as X-ray CT device).
Therefore, there is a requirement of displaying not only an ultrasonic tomographic image, but also an image picked up by an MRI device (hereinafter referred to as MRI image), an image picked up by an X-ray CT device (hereinafter referred to as CT image), plural ultrasonic images (hereinafter referred to as US3D volume data) obtained by picking up an affected site of an examinee with an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in advance, etc. all together and making a comprehensive diagnosis while comparing these images with one another.
Therefore, it is known that an image having the same cross-section as an ultrasonic image is reconstructed from the volume data of an MRI image or a CT image picked up in advance by detecting the position and posture of a probe on the basis of a sensor attached to the side surface of the ultrasonic probe as described in Patent Document 1, for example. Accordingly, not only the ultrasonic image, but also an MRI image or a CT image having the same tomographic plane can be synchronously displayed on a monitor, and a diagnosis is made while the correspondence of both the images is grasped on a real-time basis.
Prior Art Document
Patent Document
Patent Document 1: International Laid-open WO2004/098414